More User Reviews:

Appearance  Very dark orange-brown with a gorgeous head. Once it settled, the interior of the glass was covered with lacing and the head itself fell in pits. It looked like lava formations at the beginning of time.

Smell  The aroma of malts and (mostly) fruits are hit hard with the 9.2 ABV. This almost smells like hard liquor. The fruity (orange, cherry, apple, pineapple, cranberry) aroma that is awesome.

Taste  This is very interesting. The complex mix of fruits, along with the strong alcohol, gives this aspect of the beer a mixed drink kind of flavor. I make a party favorite drink with orange, cranberry, pineapple-apple juice, and rum and this is similar on the front end of The Eight.

The malt kicks in though and you know this is a beer. This brew is also loaded with sugar that comes out (even more so) at the end. This is one helluva beer.

Mouthfeel  Theres not a lot of carbonation here, but this is smooth considering the ABV. Its more like taffy on your tongue then beer.

Drinkability  Way too drinkable for such a strong concoction. This one went down like silk.

Comments  I liken this beer an organic fresh fruit mix poured into fine Belgian malt. I dont feel that Ive done it justice in my review. There are a myriad number of other flavors that I cant pick up. This is in a class all by itself.

Update: The 2004 vintage is more of the same. Recently, I was able to pick up more complexity in the nose. In particular I found some darker fruits like dates and figs and raised the Smell rating by 0.5.

Nice bottle. Simple and old looking. This beers gimmick is that is has no gimmick. Label says drink by 2009, just how strong is this beast???

The 8 pours a weak coffee brown with vivacious internal tsunamis but almost no head. Looks kind of like the Wisconsin River during an august storm. Loads of suspended, unsettling sediments. These little yeasties are pissed and theyre not going to sit down and let you drink them. Theyre going to swim about like drunken frogmen until you down the last gulp.

The aromas are umpteen. Bananas attack the nose straight away. Surprisingly theres a touch of citrus in the 8, which is weird since this is such are darkish beer. The rest of the nose is pear schnapps, dirty figs, and booze.

Texture is Smooth and lotiony like the wax in a sweaty hobos ear, only in a good way. The malts are practically behemothic with about a kilo of brown sugar. Im getting a bit of sweet potato tempura in here too and plenty of all that stuff that I found in the nose. This beer plays with my tongue like the first older woman I ever kissed, professional and experienced. Slightly medicinal with a pinch of cloves or some other spice. Perfectly balanced.

I could drink this one into the new year and I might since Im heading to Europe for the new year.

My first experience with Rochefort and Im thrilled. I cant wait to try the 10 thats waiting for me in the fridge.

Rochefort is without a doubt my favorite Belgian producer. I can't believe I'm only now honoring this one with a formal review. Rochefort 8 is a 9.2% ABV Strong Dark Ale. It's moderately translucent color is somewhere between Sepia and Sienna, which not only is lovely, but stylistically appropriate. A fair amount of soda-like carbonation is visible within the glass, however the nearly nonexistent off-white head does not indicate this.

The array of scents coming into the nose from the aroma is incredible... Brown bread, baked apples, bananas, molasses, figs, and cloves. Decadent, yet delicate.
While tasting this complex amalgamation of flavors, it's easy to notice that at the heart of this, is a big & bready malt base. A splash of tart fruits, spices, and perhaps a hint of chocolate all join this foundation nicely. What lingers in the finish seems to be a tiny hop element, as well as earthiness and phenols. The alcohol is somewhat warming and noticeable, but I would say it is far from 'hot.' The body is not overly heavy, and in fact it feels smooth and creamy washing over the palate.

Ultimately, I would recommend this on any occasion that calls for huge grainy malt beer- it's one of the timeless, top Belgian Strong Dark Ales!

Heavily carbonated, fizzed out of the bottle. Belgian candi, figs and plums, strong Belgian yeast. Dark, sweet, and full flavored. Carbonation dances on your tongue. This is one of the best dubbels I've had

The perfect releif from all of the bad beers that I've drank lately. After passing on this beer for my entire life, I finally got arround to nailing it. Now, I feel stupid for not doing it sooner. The beer is nearly flawless. A muddles brown hue promises thickness, fullness, and complexity. Lightly carbonated and with a firm foamstand. Aromas show dried dark fruits, muskiness, tartness,and a hint of chocolate. Flavors don't disapoint. Dehydrated fruits form pineapples to dates and figs. Rich chocolate and malts meld together, showing firm alcohols throughout (kinda like a bourbon ball). Heavy sweetness is balanced with tartness and woodsyness. Full and rich, yet heavily drinkable on the palate and down the throat. Mouthwatering down to the last sip. Only the alcohols become a little phenolic. Otherwise, flawless.

A nice farewell beer to PA,(Iam moving in two days)at the Drafting Room in Spring House my favorite restaurant in the area.Pours a medium brown with some burgundy hints thru out with a nice big fluffy head that leaves some real nice lacing,aroma was top notch I would have to say one of the most aromatic brews I have had intensly fruity and juicy with a light spicey yeast aroma in the background.Taste is fruity and smokey with an underlying sweetness, just a whopper of a beer.I really hope to have again sometime what a treat!

Taste: Unsweetened chocolate off the top followed by a caramel sweetness. Dark, rich maltiness in the body. The sweetness and rich complexities bend towards a dry and chalky finish. Lots of backbone. Great body. An exceptionaly full and complex beer. World class.

As best as industrial beer gets.
What a head! What a crisp, rich, non-alocholic taste.
No questions, it is the #1 trappist, and out of Rechefort arsenal - this is THE cannon.
Cant think of any better beer experiance from stuff you can get off the shelf anywhere in Benelux.

Poured into a Trappistes Rochefort goblet. Deep, murky brown, very opaque, with a little bit of floating sediment. Off-white head that dissipates rather quickly. The initial nose is quite a treat - very complex and hard to put an exact finger on. I'm getting quite a bit of dark fruits and brown, burnt sugar, as well as vanilla, caramel, and toffee. Maybe even a little bit of chocolate.

And then you taste it - this beer has so much going on. Sip after sip after sip, I would discover new flavors and little nuances that came out - it was really quite nice. It starts with black cherry, plums, and little bit of rubbing alcohol warmth on the tongue and transforms into a "deeper", more dense flavor with brown sugar, figs, and dates. I also picked up hints of grapes (wine-like), earthy esters, black licorice, chocolate-milky tones, raisins, ripe banana, and toffee.

The end hits with a subtle hint of kitchen spices, including clove. Aftertaste leaves the mouth with some sweet malts and buttery, bready yeast. The carbonation is plentiful and bites the tongue with enough sharpness to notice, but not too much to be distracting. Medium-heavy body with a super creamy mouth feel. Swish this one around your mouth for a minute, it's incredible.

Definitely my favorite of the Rochefort trio. The flavor profile really unlike anything I've tasted up to this point. So many flavors can be identified, however the beer never seems overwhelming or hodge-podge, it's very well balanced and put together nicely. Great brew.

T: Very, very well balanced and complex. Somewhat sweet fruity flavors (blackcurrants, blackberries) up front. Rich chocolate flavors. Plenty of layered malts - caramel, freshly baked bread, brown sugar, coffee. Some spices. The alcohol becomes noticeable already in the mouth and develops even further towards the finish. There are also some grass and grains in the finish.

M: Full-bodied and very creamy. Plenty of carbonation though, that makes for a rather lively mouthfeel.

D: This is one great beer. It's really well balanced and carries some fantastic aromas and flavors. Highly recommended.

330 bottle into Rochefort goblet- which while being beautiful, I find to wide and shallow for my taste. Though, no doubt the best looking beer glass I own.

A: A hazy, caramel brown. Very little head from the careful pour which subsides to a ring.

S: malt, molasses, candied sugar, dark flesh fruit

T: malt sweetness and oh so smooth. sugar, richer thicker sugars like molasses/caramel. slightly vinous in a port/sherry fortified way. vague prune and fig notes mixed with a little plum. more and more malt followed by a little prickly spice as it warms.

A-Murky brownish color, white head dissipated fairly quickly, really doesn't look so appetizing-kind of like dirty pond water
S-Boozy, raisin/date fruits, brown sugar smell, slight sourdough smell, more like maple syrup as warms
T-Yeast, booze flavor, mild date like fruit, some cocoa and tobacco, low hop present, as it warms mild leather flavor, mild sour as well, very complex and not too sweet like other Strong darks.
M-Fizzes fairly quickly in mouth whih makes some of the flavors hard to taste, Swirled a bit and the carbo died down a little but gets in the way of the flavor during the first half of the beer, medium mouthfeel, fairly drying.
O-I really wanted to enjoy this beer but the overcarbonated feel made hard to taste and not so enjoyable an experience, Underlying flavors are complex but hard to taste for a while. I bet this is fantastic with at least 2 years of age on it.

330mL bottle poured into a Westmalle chalice. Bottle dated 110214 so the beer is about 20 months old. This was drank along with the 6 and 10

It pours a deep chestnut brown with a beautiful pillowy head that dies into frothy layer. The head retention of these beers are spectacular.

The nose is much more fruity than the toffee of the 6 and has more 'Belgian' character to it. The aroma of this also has a bit of sweet sugariness to it at the end.

Taste wise it was really nice, some candied cherries and malty caramel, maybe a little darker fruit esters. As it warms just a little bit of the alcohol can be tasted. The mouthfeel is spot on, carb level great and it drink wonderfully. The ABV can be detected just a bit, especially as it warms but I really enjoyed this beer, much more so than the 6.